'Lost' in the mire of its own plot

The "truth is out there" conspiracy theorists are having a field day over American castaway telly drama Lost (TV2, 8.30pm). They probably haven't had so much fun since the heyday of alien abduction fest, The X-Files.

But is the paranoia-fuelled drama about a bunch of plane crash survivors trapped on a mysterious, malevolent island running out of puff?

How many secrets and monsters, bestial or human, can be packed on to one small desert island somewhere in the South Pacific?

How on earth can a downed jet have escaped detection in the electronic age of GPS tracking, which can survey each terrestrial square metre? Okay, correction: we may no longer be on Earth. We may have disappeared into a Bermuda Triangle-type void or vanished through an 11-dimensional wormhole into another universe.

I confess to being a sucker for the big question mark drama, be it on a cosmic scale or stuck in surreal small-town America or suburbia. The X-Files, Twin Peaks, Roswell - they all had me hooked. That is until that crucial moment when they no longer could avoid the Revelation, and just turned stupid.

The signs are there that that moment is imminent on Lost. The strongest indicator was Sunday's cheesy recap of the action so far: Lost, The Journey. Bad tagline and forget the Zen associations. The cast are trapped on an island and going nowhere, so what's with the journey?

Oh yes, that's right, we're talking about the personal journey each character is having coping with an unexpected situation. But then, what more reminder do you need that some time soon this drama will have to reach a destination?

When a movie-trailer-style recap is needed to remind us what it's all about, then what's lost seems to be the plot.

And sure enough, the drama has reached that crunch time when its most intriguing character, John Locke, the survivalist who has acted as spiritual mediator between the troubled passengers and their strange environment, is about to be called to account.

Whether Lost makes it as long-haul drama or not, however, now is perhaps the time to admire its technique. It may not be an original ploy, but the drama has made the most of the device of endlessly delayed audience gratification.

Its characters, too, are shameless stereotypes but it has dodged crashing on this score by drip-feeding us their back stories and playing games with their interactions. Do-gooding doctor Jack (Matthew Fox), for example, has trouble accepting the responsibility thrust on him. Tough babe Kate has a criminal past and is a game player, but wins trust as the most level-headed negotiator on the island. The spoiled bitch Shannon has confounded expectations by hooking up with the ex-Republican Guard Iraqi.

In another example of skilful navigation around cliches, Lost avoids painting anyone as wholly good or evil. Even the African American passenger steers clear of the usual race conflicts by clashing head-on with a Korean.

But should our questions tonight about Locke be greeted again by more questions, the show surely will be on borrowed time. Now is the hour for the island's ravenous beast - the giant polar bear - to show its maw and for those mysterious and murderous "other people on the island" to show their faces.

Are we in heaven or are we in hell? Are the survivors dead, trapped in purgatory or the guinea pigs in some weird scientific experiment?

The mysteries clouding the island might remain but one thing is clear: pretty soon we need to know why all the surviving passengers of that flight from Sydney to LA just happened to be those travelling Enigma class.